


Activation Day Surprise

by NoSleepUntilVacation



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Cute, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Happy, Happy Ending, I can't stop writing this pairing, M/M, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, headcanons, mystery elements, someone help me, suspense with a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-24 22:26:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14963358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoSleepUntilVacation/pseuds/NoSleepUntilVacation
Summary: On the morning of his birthday, Mettaton wakes up to find that Papyrus isn't there. He goes looking for him, and eventually discovers a very big, very special treat waiting for him.





	Activation Day Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I am like total trash for this pairing, and having written a number of stories for them, I decided I wanted to write something else for them. At this early in the morning. Don't worry, though; I haven't lost control of my life. Not yet, anyway.

The birthdays of ghost monsters were a rather ambiguous thing compared to the birthdays of other monsters (or humans, for that matter). Some ghost monsters went the route that those other groups took, celebrating their birthdays on the day they came into existence. However, for ghost monsters that inhabited bodies, this situation was often a little different. If they truly loved their bodies, especially if they became corporeal within them, they would take the date they either started inhabiting their bodies or became corporeal within them and have _that_ serve as their birthday. Given that the sensation of becoming corporeal often felt like a rebirth, it made sense.

Mettaton was a member of the latter group; he used the anniversary of the day his ghost self started permanently inhabiting the body Alphys made for him as his birthday, which he dubbed his "activation day". (Truthfully, he'd initially _wanted_ to change it to the day he formally premiered his EX self to the world, but after the barrier ended up destroyed on that same day and it became clear that the date would become a national holiday, Mettaton decided to stick with the old date. Sharing one's special day with a national holiday tends to have problems.) He'd celebrated it in a number of ways in the past, from watching assorted human entertainment videos with Alphys (while she liked anime, he greatly preferred music videos) to having special birthday editions of his different shows. Ever since moving to the surface, he would often throw huge parties and invite all of his friends (and those friends' friends) to celebrate another year of him and his glamour.

And ever since he and Papyrus had started dating, he found that the skeleton would often give him some extra special surprises. Sometimes it would be a fun day out on the town, leading to a surprise party later in the night. Other times, it would be some kind of original art piece, either a song or some poetry. In fact, one year, Papyrus' present was the house in which the two currently lived. Papyrus always seemed to love going above and beyond for those he cared about, and Mettaton was definitely not an exception.

Which was why, on the morning of Mettaton's most recent activation day, the star woke up in gleeful speculation as to what Papyrus would do to start the day. Would Papyrus make him breakfast in bed? Or give him a good, long back massage? Or even serenade him, perhaps?

He spent so much time thinking it over that it took him until he was fully awake to notice that the other side of the bed was suspiciously empty.

Once he noticed it, he eyed the strangely Papyrus-less space with confusion. He reached out to touch that part of the mattress; it was room-temperature.

Deciding that Papyrus must have simply gotten up to do some chores, Mettaton himself decided to get up. Papyrus was probably the only person he knew who actually liked doing chores; while Mettaton never fully understood it, he certainly wasn't complaining. Papyrus' undying diligence not only made him a good friend, but it also gave Mettaton every excuse to spoil him when the work was over.

On his way downstairs, Mettaton peered through the open door of the bathroom. He already knew Papyrus wasn't in here, since the door would be closed otherwise, but something else about it was off. Papyrus often made a point of taking a hot shower every morning, which often made the room really humid after the fact; however, the air right now seemed perfectly clear, without a hint of mugginess to speak of. Out of sheer curiosity, Mettaton walked inside and touched the wall of the shower, finding the surface to be completely dry. He'd briefly wondered if Papyrus had taken a bath instead, but inspecting the bathtub yielded similar results.

Mettaton frowned, pondering things for a brief moment. Maybe, for some reason, Papyrus wanted to wait until after breakfast before he washed up? That had to be it; Papyrus loved cooking, and he especially loved cooking for his loved ones, and he _especially_ especially loved cooking for Mettaton.

However, as he went down to the kitchen, the suspicious lack of scents struck a worried chord in his heart. He smelled neither the hearty scent of a full breakfast nor the sweet scent of a cake or other delicious dessert; he couldn't even smell any hint of anything related to spaghetti! True, Papyrus often loved to clean the kitchen (being a firm believer in the philosophy "a clean home is a happy home"), but this felt a little too sterile. It was even worse when he actually made it to the kitchen; while everything was neatly organized as usual, there was no sign that anything had been used in at least the last few hours. Everything was completely clean, the heating elements were stone-cold, and the sinks were empty. And of course, Papyrus himself was slightly _absent._

Mettaton's soul began pounding slightly. He could accept Papyrus not being in bed with him in the morning or not washing up yet, but no sign that he'd been cooking, even if just to make breakfast for himself? _This_ was a cause for concern.

Swallowing hard, he decided to check other rooms. Unfortunately, his luck was just about the same for many of them. Papyrus wasn't watching TV in the front room, or playing solitaire in the den. He wasn't sitting on the front porch swing writing poetry, nor was he practicing his guitar or lying in the grass in the backyard. Mettaton, in his desperation, had even checked the guest bedrooms and bathrooms to see if Papyrus was cleaning those; he probably should have known Papyrus wasn't there, but everyone knows the old saying about desperate times.

By the time his search of the last guest room turned up nothing but an unoccupied space, Mettaton felt his soul beating a tattoo against its casing. Papyrus was _not_ the kind of person to disappear without a word; why would he suddenly start now?

_Unless maybe... something came up at work? Or with one of the others?_

Mettaton realized that, for some reason, he'd overlooked the garage. This was the only logical conclusion he could think of at this point; something away from the house needed Papyrus' immediate attention, and so Papyrus had driven off to deal with it. Maybe Papyrus' boss at the auto repair shop had called him in for some overtime (if that was the case, Mettaton needed to have a word with them about the importance of this date), or maybe Undyne had something cool to show him, or maybe Sans needed his help with something.

Before Mettaton could think of any other possible scenarios, he opened the garage door and saw a certain bright red car still garaged there, and still no skeletons in sight. His heart dropped; it took him everything he had to not just throw his hands up in the air and scream "Where are you, Papyrus?"

The steadily-fraying threads of his composure gave him other thoughts, in a few desperate gasps at reassurance. Maybe Papyrus still had to go somewhere, but someone else drove him? He could be off with the others, setting up another surprise party for Mettaton! (But if that was the case, why didn't someone come over to distract Mettaton until the party was ready?)

Just then, it occurred to Mettaton that he hadn't checked his text messages since waking up. His phone was still in his room; if even that failed to give him an answer, he was ready to call the entire gang and ask them if they'd seen Papyrus. The man was this close to sending out a search party, even!

Mettaton left the garage and began making his way back towards the stairs. Before he could climb them, though, he had one final thought.

There was one room in the house he hadn't checked yet: the basement. Ever since moving into this house two years ago today, the couple hadn't really used the basement for anything; the other rooms in the house, especially the garage, had given them nearly all the storage space they needed. While they did store a few assorted bits and bobs in the basement, it wasn't used in any serious capacity. What were the odds of Papyrus being down there?

And yet... Mettaton knew he had to try.

Mettaton walked over to the basement door, opened it, and proceeded down the tiny hallway. At the other end of this hallway was a staircase; Mettaton slowly descended it, feeling his soul doing flips, for he knew that this was his last hope.

However, as the basement itself came into view, Mettaton's soul skipped a beat. As he saw more and more, his eyes widened, and by the time he made it to the bottom stair, his jaw was nearly on the floor.

What had previously been a drab, nondescript room that went largely unused was now outfitted with a variety of recording equipment. There was an intricate workstation complete with a brand-new computer and a high-end synthesizer at one end of the room. Microphones, speakers, and other devices were placed throughout the room, as were some other instruments and pieces of equipment. The walls even seemed different than before; perhaps they were soundproofed and/or had the acoustics improved? In addition to all of the technical things, there were also some comfortable chairs and couches here and there.

And what did Mettaton find on one of these couches?

Or rather, who did he find?

A sleepy, snoring skeleton, that's who!

After relief crashed over Mettaton like a wave at the beach, he felt oily tears stream from his eyes in elation. Papyrus had spent an untold amount of time setting all of this up for him, all as a surprise for his activation day! He must have been completely exhausted by the time he was done, and that was why he'd passed out on the couch - from working himself to the brink to give Mettaton his very own in-home recording studio.

At that moment, four simple words kept running through Mettaton's head: _I love you, Papyrus._ He briefly pondered if he should wake him up so he could properly thank him, imprinting those words on Papyrus' mind as well as his own.

_No... he obviously meant for this to be a surprise. I'll just go back upstairs and let him have his fun later._

Unfortunately, as Mettaton went to do just that, his heels were a little too loud.

"Nyeh... wha...?"

Mettaton gasped and turned back around, seeing Papyrus stir from his slumber. Once Papyrus realized just where he was, what he'd been doing, and who was in the room with him, he let out his own gasp.

"Mettaton! Oh my god!" He ran up to Mettaton, being careful not to knock down or trip over anything, looking rather discontent. "I was not aware that you had plans to be in here! We don't usually use this space, so...!"

Taking hold of Papyrus' hand, Mettaton frowned. "I'm sorry, beautiful. I didn't know where you were, even after looking in the rest of the house."

Papyrus looked startled momentarily. "Well!!! You see!!! While you were asleep last night, I came back down here and put all the finishing touches on this room! It was a lot of work, and by the time I was done, I felt I needed to sit down for a few minutes!" He sadly sighed and looked down. "They ended up being a very long few minutes, though... I never meant to make you afraid that something horrible had happened to me!"

Mettaton wrapped his arms around him and held him close, gently rubbing his back. "Darling... it's okay. The important thing is that I know where you are now, and that you're okay." He gave a slightly tearful smile. "And this room? I honestly have no words, except... I love it, and I love you."

Even as Papyrus smiled back, his eyes betrayed a look of disappointment. "It was supposed to be a surprise, though."

"I haven't looked too deeply into the room yet, so feel free to give me a more formal introduction later."

"All right."

The two stood there in their embrace for a little while longer. Papyrus still had something on his mind, though, and eventually looked up at Mettaton. "I wish I could have fallen asleep in our bed, though. I meant to do all sorts of wonderful things for you when we both woke up."

Mettaton just smiled some more. "And who says you can't still do those things, sweetheart?" Smirking, he leaned in to whisper. "Let me know who they are, so I can tell them they're objectively wrong."

Despite himself, Papyrus felt the urge to laugh. Mettaton did have a point, after all. "Nyeh heh heh! Well then! Let's go back upstairs and start this lovely morning the way it was meant to be started!"

"Gladly."

As the two climbed the stairs, Mettaton couldn't stop smiling. The day had barely started, and despite the scare earlier, this was shaping up to be a wonderful activation day indeed.

Papyrus did love going above and beyond for his loved ones, of course.


End file.
